Mark O'Meara: My Top 10 Courses

From the beauty of the Monterey Peninsula to the windswept Lancashire coast, two-time major winner Mark O’Meara reveals his favourite layouts

The eighteenth at Royal Birkdale

That was the case in 1998, the year I won both the Masters and the Open at Royal Birkdale. I wasn’t actually playing that well going into the season – and at the age of 41, nobody expected me to win – myself included – which took some of the pressure off and lowered my expectations. But Birkdale’s been very special to me – I always enjoyed the challenge, having finished third in the Open to [Ian] Baker-Finch in 1991 and winning the Lawrence Batley International there in 1987 – so to hold off Brian Watts in the playoff and clip Tiger by a shot was hugely satisfying. Again, it’s about creativity. Links golf forces you to be creative and Royal Birkdale – like Portmarnock, another quite brilliant links across the Irish Sea – demands that. –As told to Alex Jenkins

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Written by Alex Jenkins

Click here to see the published article.

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